Hey, isn’t
that us?
Am I
the only one who does not see any surprise that our vile institutions of
social, political and economic power attract so many vile people committing
acts of sexual harassment?
There
is no doubt that many working class men, common men, are also sexual predators,
rapists, pedophiles, just plain weird, and/or practitioners of disgusting,
uninvited sexual intrusion.
But is
it somehow a surprise to find so many high in the ranks of our entertainment
industry, news media, business structures and government? It is not as if our
key institutions have an ethical leg to stand on when they are not sexually
harassing underlings or discriminating against women and minorities in their
power pyramid status career climbing.
Today I
was listening to a radio report about women who work in our national security
who have written an open letter to complain about the abusive sexual
environment there. I believe them.
Well,
there is this myth that our national security sectors are somehow serving and
protecting the country but it is only a myth, a cover story and for some a self-delusional
account so that individuals can rationalize their crimes and stay in denial
about what roles our nation plays in the world. There is some militaristic
right wing spin that patches up the sides of the stories that leak out and up
into the public view, but every time the curtain gets pulled back we find all
kinds of immoral, illegal and inhumane things being done by employees of our
government’s nation security agencies and State Department. We call ourselves a
shining city on a hill. Much of the world knows us as a repressive nightmare.
If I
started to make a list from Honduras to Syria this would end up being another
rant about international affairs, and I have already written too many of those.
Some
contrived arguments are made to justify everything from overthrowing governments,
to death squads and all kinds of minor international crimes and the press tends
to call those actions “past mistakes”, “excesses”, or “unfortunately necessary”
and makes sure to never use the word IMPERIALSM.
So
there is sexual harassment inside our national security agencies?
Do they
do anything ethical otherwise?
And
there is sexual harassment inside the press too?
- The press that we just mentioned does not tell us about what our government does overseas?
- The press that has been consolidated behind a few large transnational corporations?
- The press that had been converted to television infotainment presented by millionaire TV stars?
Oh,
yeah, THAT press! The one that refuses to cover the actions of large
transnational corporations, does not ask elected officials where they got their
campaign dollars from, the press that sweeps criticism under the carpet behind
“he said-she said” reporting because they are part of the inside crowd, THAT
press has people in it who treat sex as something they can demand.
What a
surprise!
They
were such good people otherwise.
But why
stop there? As some have pointed out, there is probably more sexual harassment
of maids and fast food workers than there is of movie stars, talking heads, CIA
agents and women who take the campaign donations and get what passes for
elected in our country.
We are
talking about the fast food sector and hotel sector. Both are dominated by
large corporations and franchising organizations. Both have lobbyists employed
in keeping the minimum wage down, and all wages down. Both have a long history
of union busting. I do not doubt for a second that the reports of rampant
sexual harassment is true. Is that the only condemnable activity in that part
of the economy?
By
inference, what kind of sexual harassment is going on inside of Walmart where
there are no unions and people are desperate to have those low paying Walmart
jobs because otherwise they would be in even deeper poverty?
What
about other parts of the economy where corporate America is determined to not
have their oil pipelines or investment banking controlled by government in any
way? All good over there in the banks and oil companies? No discrimination? No
sexual abuse?
When it
comes down to it, there is probably lots of sexual harassment and abuse inside
academia, the military, the nonprofit sector and about any part of our power
structures. It has been exposed in our churches and now we are surprised to
find it inside our money soaked, career mad political parties? How did they
find time to break away from constantly raising campaign funds and talking to
lobbyists to sexually harass people? The ethics are no surprise, but aren’t
they busy?
Maybe
that is true about any power structure, especially the more corrupt they
become, the more autocratic their practices, the more they develop fiefdoms of
untouchable powerful people and the less they are held accountable for what
they do as a group and the less that the individuals who do it have to answer
for. We have been the nation of the stone wall and CYA for a long time. If you
are a police officer there seems to never be consequences for killing a black
man and our society gets offended when a football player points that out during
the militaristic display that somehow has become how we start a game. It is
hardly just sexual harassment that our powerful have not been held accountable for.
And
that says a lot about men, all men, and as a man, I start by looking inward
with suspicion. This is a good time for all of us men to question ourselves. It
is always a good time for everyone, on every subject, but I am a middle aged
white man and one should be slow to absolve oneself.
But we
should also look inward with suspicion at the society we have become where so
much power goes unchecked and un-criticized. So much sexual harassment has gone
unchecked for a long time now and it is great that something is finally being
said.
But
let’s stop and think a moment.
What
kind of institutions do we have?
We sure
seem to have a lot of sociopaths doing quite well climbing the social ladder.
What
else is going on, unchecked and un-criticized?
